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In Virginia, McDonnell Ends Democrats’ Streak

Robert F. McDonnell, who was elected governor on Tuesday, with supporters outside a polling place in Mount Vernon, Va.Credit
Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

RICHMOND, Va. — Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican and a former state attorney general, won a decisive victory in Virginia’s governor’s race Tuesday, a stark reversal of fortune for Democrats who have held control in Richmond for the past eight years.

Mr. McDonnell defeated the Democratic candidate, R. Creigh Deeds, an 18-year state senator from rural Bath County in western Virginia. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. McDonnell had 59 percent of the vote, and Mr. Deeds 41 percent.

Republicans cited the victory as a repudiation of the Obama administration and the national Democratic Party’s agenda, especially that of departing Gov. Tim Kaine, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Nonetheless, exit polls conducted by Edison Research on Tuesday showed that support for Mr. Obama had diminished only slightly in the state since his victory here in 2008. The polls suggested that many of Mr. Obama’s voters stayed home on Tuesday, allowing Mr. McDonnell to win on strong support among white men and independents and among voters who say they are very worried about the direction of the nation’s economy.

In Maine, voters rejected a law that allows same-sex marriage, which passed in May. With 84 percent of the state’s precincts reporting, a petition drive to reject the law, begun by conservatives, had the support of 53 percent of voters early Wednesday, pointing toward a stinging defeat for same-sex marriage efforts nationwide.

In Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino won an unprecedented fifth term, defeating his fellow Democrat, City Councilman Michael F. Flaherty Jr. It was the toughest re-election fight of Mr. Menino’s career, but he relied on his popularity and an impressive political machine to neutralize arguments that the city needed a change.

In Atlanta, Mary Norwood, the front-runner whose success has raised the possibility that the city could elect a white mayor for the first time since 1973, will compete in a Dec. 1 runoff with her closest competitor, Kasim Reed, a black lawyer and former state legislator. Ms. Norwood won 43 percent of Tuesday’s vote, short of the majority needed to win outright. Mr. Reed had 38 percent.

Mayor Dave Bing of Detroit, a former basketball star and founder of an auto parts supplier, won election to a full term in the financially-struggling city. The night’s results may mark the city’s long-awaited end to the fallout from a scandal that led to the departure of a mayor and has sent Detroiters to the polls four times since February.

In Pittsburgh, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl won a resounding victory for a full term at the city’s helm, having inherited the office in 2006 when the incumbent died. And City Commissioner Tomás Regalado of Miami easily won the race to become the city’s mayor, after promising voters a “back to basics” approach focused on improving city services and reining in developers.

In Ohio, voters approved a proposal to allow full-service casinos to be built in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.

While the Virginia race garnered national attention, both candidates tried to focus more on local issues, like jobs, taxes and road improvements.

Mr. McDonnell, 55, who went into Election Day with a double-digit lead in the polls, is a social and fiscal conservative, but ran on a more centrist platform that appealed to suburban voters. At the same time, Mr. Deeds, 51, had a difficult time introducing himself to densely populated Northern Virginia.

“You have allowed me to represent our vision and aspirations in one of the most pivotal elections in Virginia history,” Mr. McDonnell said in his acceptance speech. “And I will not let you down.”

While a sour economy and anxiety over Mr. Obama’s health care proposals presented Mr. Deeds with an uphill fight, the Republicans made inroads with constituencies that Mr. Deeds had hoped he could count on.

Photo

State Senator R. Creigh Deeds spoke to supporters Tuesday night in Richmond, Va., after his defeat in the governor's race.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

In recent statewide elections, Democrats have won by securing about 60 percent of the vote in Northern Virginia, mainly the affluent suburbs of Washington. Democrats had hoped that by highlighting Mr. Deeds’s rural downstate roots, they would draw in new voters to build on their strength in the northern part of the state.

Mr. McDonnell — though actually quite conservative, opposing abortion rights, gun control and increased taxes — focused on appealing to moderates and independents. His campaign avoided divisive social issues, and instead highlighted his ideas to create jobs, improve the economy, and fix the state’s transportation woes. He regularly emphasized that 90 percent of the legislation he proposed as attorney general passed the General Assembly with strong bipartisan support.

Mr. McDonnell was careful to keep his distance from the farther right end of his party. When the conservative activist Ralph Reed sponsored robocalls to voters featuring former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska asking them to vote their values, Mr. McDonnell’s campaign declined to answer questions about the calls and emphasized that the campaign had not asked Ms. Palin to make them.

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The Republicans also undercut some of Mr. Deeds’ support in the state’s rural, more conservative swaths by attacking him for supporting a tax increase to pay for road improvements.

Early in his campaign, Mr. Deeds had hoped to paint McDonnell as a radical conservative by publicizing Mr. McDonnell’s 1989 master’s thesis, which roundly criticized working women and single mothers. The strategy failed, pollsters concluded, as voters found those advertisements too negative.

More than 6 in 10 voters said in exit polls Tuesday that the master’s thesis had no effect on their vote. The polls showed that Mr. McDonnell had strong support among men and was also backed by most women.

Democrats fought hard to avoid a rout. Though the Obama administration initially expressed quiet reservations about Mr. Deeds, the president campaigned twice for him, helped him raise money, appeared in his advertisements and extended the support of his political campaign arm, Organizing for America.

Mr. Kaine also campaigned for Mr. Deeds, and, through the Democratic National Committee, put more than $6 million behind his candidacy.

Republicans insisted that Tuesday’s results represented a significant shift in national political sentiments from the 2008 vote.

“Virginia can be seen as a true bellwether or a mini-national election,” said Michael S. Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, who campaigned vigorously for Mr. McDonnell and pumped more than $9 million into the race.

Nevertheless, some factors that played a role in Mr. McDonnell’s victory might not reflect a larger shift in the state when it comes to national politics.

In 2008, 53 percent of voters backed Mr. Obama, and exit polls on Tuesday showed that 48 percent of voters approved of his performance.

As predicted, minority voters and young voters turned out in fewer numbers on Tuesday than in 2008 for the presidential election. Voters under age 30 accounted for 10 percent of the electorate on Tuesday, compared with 21 percent in 2008. While about 20 percent of the electorate in 2008 was black, exit polls showed that number was 16 percent on Tuesday.

“Virginia is probably turning red today because turnout is well down, and the smaller voting population is among the most Republican in modern times,” said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia. “But if Obama can pull out his large turnout again in 2012, and the economy has clearly improved, Virginia could be blue once more.”

The economy and unemployment were by far the most important issues to nearly half of voters, and most who said the economy was their top issue backed Mr. McDonnell.

Contributing reporting were Damien Cave from Miami, Monica Davey from Chicago, Shaila Dewan from Atlanta, Abby Goodnough from Boston, and Dalia Sussman from New York.

A version of this article appears in print on November 4, 2009, on Page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: Breaking an 8-Year Streak, Virginia Elects a Republican as Governor. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe